"Here's your Cross-Triangle: [Illustration]; and here's your Pour-Bar-M: [Illustration]." "And if a calf branded with a Tailholt iron were to be found following a Cross-Triangle cow, then what ?" came Patches' very natural question.
"Then," returned the foreman of the Cross-Triangle grimly, "there would be a mighty good chance for trouble." "But it seems to me," said Patches, as they rode on, "that it would be easily possible for a man to brand another man's calf by mistake." "A man always makes a mistake when he puts his iron on another man's property," returned the cowboy shortly.
"But might it not be done innocently, just the same!" persisted Patches.
"Yes, it might," admitted Phil.
"Well, then, what would you do if you found a calf, that you knew belonged to the Dean, branded with some other man's brand?
I mean, how would you proceed ?" "Oh, I see what you are driving at," said Phil in quite a different tone.

"If you ever run on to a case, the first thing for you to do is to be dead sure that the misbranded calf belongs to one of our cows.

Then, if you are right, and it's not too far, drive the cow and calf into the nearest corral and report it.

If you can't get them to a corral without too much trouble, just put the Cross-Triangle on the calf's ribs.

When he shows up in the next rodeo, with the right brand on his ribs, and some other brand where the right brand ought to be--you'll take pains to remember his natural markings, of course--you will explain the circumstances, and the owner of the iron that was put on him by mistake will be asked to vent his brand.